Extending the classroom experience

Teacher: Mike Wakefield – JRN100

As part of a Summer Innovation Project, Mike Wakefield adopted a variety of technologies to extend the classroom experience for his Journalism 100 students. As part of the project Mike adopted and evaluated the iPad2 as a teaching and learning tool. Below are his notes detailing the activities and outcomes for the project.

Primary Purpose: extending the classroom experience for JRN100, Intro to Mass Communications, making learning more independent of time and place.

Secondary Purpose: Evaluating the use of the iPad2 as a tool for production and presentation of course materials.

Materials acquired: Software for iPad2 – Garageband, iMovie, Pages, Keynote, Adapter cable for iPad2 use with classroom projection system, camera kit for transferring images and other files to and from the iPad.

Activities and Outcomes:

1. Continuing process of converting/adapting/replacing nearly all previously paper-based assignments to BlackBoard interactive versions, using a combination of assessment modules, blogs, and wikis for creation and assessment of small group and individual student work.

Outcome: This was completed, and most of the materials converted or adapted have been incorporated into the course going forward. The course is now nearly paper-free, and more work is ongoing in creating rubrics and other online resources.

2. Preparing a series of mini-lecture presentations for embedding in Bb that will supplement classes.

Outcome: This was more challenging than anticipated, but I was fortunate to run across a great screen capture/video application for the Mac called IShowU HD. This allows for not only screen capture, but picture-in-picture recording of the instructor using the built in laptop camera. I captured 2 complete lecture sessions, edited them in iMovie and used them to “flip” those class sessions.  Students were very positive about being able to see these on demand, and use the class time to work on assignments related to the material presented.

3. Converting current class presentations from PowerPoint to Keynote for use with instructor-owned iPad2 in class.

Outcome: This turned out to be more or less a wasted effort. The main problem is the basic incompatibility of features between Keynote on the Mac and Keynote on the iOS platform, as well as the inconvenient procedures for managing files on iOS devices (this has improved since, but still has limitations). More about this in the separate section below about my overall experience with the iPad2 as a teaching tool. It has tremendous features that are useful in class (and even greater potential) but not within the traditional paradigm of lecture-type presentations (which is probably just fine!).

4. Based on Spring 2011 “”snow day”" live chat class using Bb, and subsequent experiments; create at least one experimental interactive class session to be delivered using live streaming via free uStream account (Web 2.0), embedded within Bb.

Outcome: While this did work technically, we were not able to use it as a practical matter for class during the summer. Several students were challenged by their lack of Internet connectivity, so we did some experiments in class as a proof-of-concept. It also fit into the particular content area being discussed in class, which was the use of web-based media tools for communication and learning.

5. Create one or more class activities based on use of student cell-phone response via short code number SMS messaging (pollanywhere.com).

Outcome: The class participated in an instant survey of their use of Facebook, and we discussed how this could be used in different ways for collecting research data on media.

6. Embed at least one small-group activity using student-owned mobile devices (smart phone, etc.) as research tools.

Outcome: This activity was abandoned based on the lack of smart phones among the students in this particular group, which was somewhat surprising. This is not usually the case with students during the regular semester, it may be related to different nature of the summer session population. So, we used the time for online research using standard desktop/laptop platforms.

Reflection on the iPad2 for Instruction:

In general, the iPad is an exciting device with tremendous potential, but it requires some rethinking of the traditional classroom model, along with a full understanding of its limitations.

Pros: The intuitive interface is easy to learn, and since the inclusion of mirroring, it has become fairly easy to share what is on the screen with a large group via a standard data projector (with some caveats). Given a decent wifi connection, a class can see anything an instructor chooses to show, with good quality audio and video. It is much better than a laptop at being able to zoom into a particular image for greater detail, and the ability to switch tasks immediately makes presentations go quickly with a minimum of fuss. Given the right software and network capability, it will also function as a virtual desktop for another platform, using apps like LogMeIn or VNC, and will also function as a virtual remote for Keynote presentations run on the Mac. Of course, Keynote itself runs using the Keynote app, which is a useful reduced-function version of the desktop app. Finally, I also found the iPad to be a useful accessory tool during class discussions as a way of quickly finding examples or accessing information as questions came up while being able to keep the regular laptop presentation on the screen. Since the classroom cart system only allowed for one external VGA connection, I brought in a passive VGA switch to try switching back and forth between laptop and iPad. This worked OK, but was a little clunky to deal with. The since-added Airplay-to-Apple TV capability has potential to address some of these issues, but it’s probably not practical given KSC’s current wifi/network configurations. Overall, the iPad is a very good tool for quick research and presentation of multimedia and web-based information in the classroom, but it is not a replacement for the laptop at this point in time.

Cons: Simple things are sometimes frustrating. Moving files around is tedious, maybe better now with iCloud, that remains to be seen. But, up to this point the choice are few for moving files to and from the device (iTunes, DropBox, DropCopy), and don’t always play nicely on the KSC network. A good deal of time was spent trying to establish a reliable wifi connection in the classroom, and connection to the KSC Secure network was often a problem. Also, some network protocols are apparently blocked on the KSC network, so some simple things that would work at home, such as the remote desktop clients and other remote control apps, would not work in the classroom. There were similar issues with DropCopy and one or two other apps that are meant to connect to a local or remote desktop client. This is obviously a result of security-based decisions, and certainly understandable, but it means that some functionality is lost. These are things that should be kept in mind when contemplating anything other than the basic functions of the devices.

Another basic (almost silly) problem is the fact that the VGA dock adapter does not lock into the Ipad securely, and tends to fall out at the most inopportune times. This is a design flaw with these newer dock connectors (the older iPod type worked better), and while it may well help to keep the connector on the device side from being broken, it makes it very difficult to use the iPad in any way other than stationary. Handholding the device will almost certainly cause the cable to come out, and re-establishing the connection with the projector is not always simple. A Bluetooth type connection would be preferable, and this does in fact work just fine using the Apple TV device, but the Apple TV requires an HDMI connection on the display or projector, something that is lacking on most data projectors (and is 100% non-existent on projectors at KSC, as confirmed by Steve Armstrong).

The Keynote app also has severe limitations, as only the simplest Keynote presentations created on a laptop will run properly on the iPad. If your create it on the iPad and present it on the iPad, you’re fine. But if you make a presentation on your MacBook and send it to the iPad, you will need to ditch any fancy transitions, some multimedia, and may also have to settle for different fonts. I expect this may get better as time goes on, but if you want the presentation to run as-is, your only choice is to same it as a movie and run that. Of course, timing then becomes an issue, but it’s one workaround.

Overall, the iPad is a fantastic personal multimedia information device, with some good basic tools for productivity. It still has some growing to do to become a fully effective learning device in a group situation (unless and until all students have iPads!), but the potential is great. It also will require a rethinking of how campus networks adapt to the uses of mobile devices; the policy and technology are currently keeping some of that potential from being realized.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 15th, 2011 at 11:16 am and is filed under Out-of-Class, mobile. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.